As NewsBusters has documented for years, ABC’s The View has a serious problem with incendiary rhetoric designed to inflame political tensions, incite violence, and generally disregard the lives of conservatives. So, their toxic hypocrisy was fairly potent during Monday’s episode when the cast were demanding the rhetoric be toned down following the assassination of Democratic state representatives in Minnesota, something the openly refused to do after the attempts on President Trump.
Pretend independent Sara Haines whined about what described as “a slow dehumanization of the ‘other.’ Whatever that ‘other’ is to someone. In this instance it's a political division.” She demanded that the government fire Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) because of some tweets she didn’t like. Seemingly ignorant to how elections worked she decried:
In any other job you would be fired instantly! I don't know what is wrong with our government that someone is not immediately removed or punished. And what I would say is right now, if the HR of our government does not solve this problem the people better be watching.
Haines was hypocrite because she once demanded that pro-lifers let themselves die of cancer. She called it “God’s will” for them to die in a horrible and agonizing fashion.
And speaking of dehumanization, The View clamored to have an anti-Trump comedian on the show who called Trump and his supporters “sub-human.” Her co-host Ana Navarro once claimed Trump wasn’t human and was “an existential threat to humanity.”
“There is this normalization of political violence and it's been happening since about 2016,” griped co-host Sunny Hostin, as a follow up to Haines. “And so, when that is starting to happen, it's not only just a slide to fascism, it’s not just a slide to authoritarianism, it's an end of democracy and how we do things.”
Hostin was one of the first in the group to openly refuse to tone down her rhetoric after the attempts on Trump’s life. “I just think that calling out the truth is not turning up the heat, right, and I think it's really important,” she declared in July of 2024. She also gave credence to the healthcare CEO shooter and demanded Democrats be ready to “fight and die” against Trump.
While not calling out the rest of her friends for how they refuse to tone down the rhetoric, faux conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin opined about how “deep political polarization in this country is dangerous” and how “we all have a duty” to some down things down. She got no support from the rest of the table (Click “expand”):
And I’ll say this: we – deep political polarization in this country is dangerous. I never thought I would live through this level of political violence that he have. And we all have a duty. How we talk about people –If we talk about people we politically disagree with like they are our enemy, like they are less worthy of being here, like they’re stupider than us, like we hate them and we despise them, we are adding to that. We have a duty to try to see people's humanity.
And by the way, I'm trying to hold myself accountable to this. Rather than go on Twitter and rage tweet to my echo chamber of people who agree with me. I’m going to try to talk to people who see the world a little different than me, try to see their humanity, try to change their heart and mind toward what I agree by actually engaging and talking to them like the human beings who are worthy of having a voice. Because when we treat people like they’re enemies this is what happens.
Openly rejecting Farah Griffin’s call for them to better themselves, moderator Whoopi Goldberg proclaimed, “I'm not going to pull my punches here” as she proceeded to blame House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for the killings:
GOLDBERG: Last week when that tar and feather, you know --
HOSTIN: That was Speaker Mike Johnson. Right?
GOLDBERG: What are you doing? You always say, “oh, we have to come down on the rhetoric, stop doing it’ and then you don't! So I'm putting this -- yeah, I'm putting this in your hands!
Goldberg once attacked Trump’s grandkids for committing the crime of humanizing their grandfather. “[T]hey're trying to humanize him and change your idea about who this guy is. Don't fall for that!” she sneered.
The View has also been the home for calls to “murder” pro-lifers and fantasizes about assassinating U.S. Supreme Court justices.
ABC needs to do something.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
June 16, 2025
11:06:12 a.m. Eastern(…)
SARA HAINES: Whoopi, you say there's something happening here, it's like a slow dehumanization of the ‘other.’ Whatever that ‘other’ is to someone. In this instance it's a political division.
And I think people need to check in with themselves. When they hear someone is attacked in their house, if their first response is not feeling gutted and heartbroken without any identifiers – I don't need to know anything – If that was not your first response, you are part of the problem.
And elected officials, speaking of them, you've got Mike Lee out of Utah who is either mocking what happened here when he tweets things like, “this is what happens when Marxists don't get their way,” or “nightmare on Waltz street.” This was within hours of the loss of life and the brutal attack in these people's homes.
In any other job you would be fired instantly! I don't know what is wrong with our government that someone is not immediately removed or punished. And what I would say is right now –
[Applause]
HAINES: - if the HR of our government does not solve this problem the people better be watching. This man is back up -- it's a minute, it's like 2028. But being on the ground and coordinate how you replace people like this, who can speak that way about other Americans.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Well, you do it by voting. Right? You do it by voting.
ANA NAVARRO: We are the HR of America.
HOSTIN: We are the HR of America.
But I will say this, Whoopi, to your question. There is this normalization of political violence and it's been happening since about 2016. In 2024 Chapman University there was a study that suggests that a possible cause for this rise in targeted violence against politicians is this declining level of confidence in our most important social institutions and the growing political divisions.
And what was really disheartening to me, one in five adults believe Americans have to resort to violence to get their country back on track. A Washington Post poll found that one in three Americans say they believe violence against the government is justified.
And so, when that is starting to happen, it's not only just a slide to fascism, it’s not just a slide to authoritarianism, it's an end of democracy and how we do things. And so, I don't know if it's time to wake up, because I think -- it's just happening. It’s happening.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: The question we always have after an act of political violence, whether it's the attempts on Donald Trump's life, the attempts on Gavin – on Governor Shapiro's life, these lawmakers and their spouses in Minnesota. We say, ‘Well, is the rhetoric contributing to it?’ Of course, the rhetoric is but to Sara’s point, we have to get to the heart of it.
Because there is this reaction when something happens that if your first thought is, “Oh, let me make sure he wasn't wearing my jersey whoever the perpetrator was. I want to make sure he wasn’t on my political side.’ Do you care more about that than the two children who were left behind who lost both of their parents in Minnesota this weekend, the Hortmans’ kids. There is something wrong at the heart.
And I’ll say this: we – deep political polarization in this country is dangerous. I never thought I would live through this level of political violence that he have. And we all have a duty. How we talk about people –If we talk about people we politically disagree with like they are our enemy, like they are less worthy of being here, like they’re stupider than us, like we hate them and we despise them, we are adding to that. We have a duty to try to see people's humanity.
And by the way, I'm trying to hold myself accountable to this. Rather than go on Twitter and rage tweet to my echo chamber of people who agree with me. I’m going to try to talk to people who see the world a little different than me, try to see their humanity, try to change their heart and mind toward what I agree by actually engaging and talking to them like the human beings who are worthy of having a voice. Because when we treat people like they’re enemies this is what happens.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Well, I'm not going to pull my punches here. Last week when that tar and feather, you know --
HOSTIN: That was Speaker Mike Johnson. Right?
GOLDBERG: What are you doing? You always say, “oh, we have to come down on the rhetoric, stop doing it’ and then you don't! So I'm putting this -- yeah, I'm putting this in your hands!
(…)